There is an integer overflow present in the xdr_array() function distributed as part of the Sun Microsystems XDR library. This overflow has been shown to lead to remotely exploitable buffer overflows in multiple applications, leading to the execution of arbitrary code. Although the library was originally distributed by Sun Microsystems, multiple vendors have included the vulnerable code in their own implementations.

DETAIL

The XDR (external data representation) libraries are used to provide platform-independent methods for sending data from one system process to another, typically over a network connection. Such routines are commonly used in remote procedure call (RPC) implementations to provide transparency to application programmers who need to use common interfaces to interact with many different types of systems. The xdr_array() function in the XDR library provided by Sun Microsystems contains an integer overflow that can lead to improperly sized dynamic memory allocation. Subsequent problems like buffer overflows may result, depending on how and where the vulnerable xdr_array() function is used.